Problems abound from human miscommunications: e.g. people don't meet their commitments “as promised”, people don't “follow directions”, people “say” one thing and “do” another, people are often “stuck” making the same mistakes over and over, etc. Root causes for these problem symptoms include: —Lack of common understanding and agreement of key concepts/commitments. —Faulty memory. —Poor planning, organization, and follow through. —Weak or nonexistent improvement systems.
Attempts to reduce miscommunications due to faulty memory by recording conversations may be hampered by concern for attendee's privacy. The federal Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968, 18 U.S.C. Sec. 2510 et seq., prohibits intercepting telephone calls without the consent of the participants except under strictly controlled conditions. Some jurisdictions prohibit intercepting telephone calls without the consent of at least one of the participants. Others require consent from all participants and include face-to-face conversations in addition to telephone conversations.
This invention reduces miscommunication challenges by enhancing the conversation attendee's ability to individually and collaboratively: —Simplify: distill out and record the core ideas of conversations while preserving participant privacy. —Organize: classify and prioritize these key concepts. —Act Upon: recollect issues and take appropriate (often coordinated or interdependent) action. —Learn: analyze and uncover new insight from the linkage of these ideas with others in their conversational memory.